If the debt reduction deal does nothing else, at least it will put pressure on federal agencies to weed out their least productive employees.

That weeding will be long overdue.

USA Today recently crunched the numbers and found that federal workers are more likely to die during a given year than be laid off or fired.

Consider the Federal Communications Commission, which found no reason to lay off or fire any of its 1,800 employees last year. Same for the 1,200 employees at the Federal Trade Commission — every last one of them apparently a solid performer.

In total, the U.S. government fired about one half of one percent of its employees last year, or 11,668 people, according to USA Today.

That’s out of a total workforce of 2.1 million, and 60 percent of those fired were in low-paid positions, such as cafeteria workers and custodians.

Highly compensated employees faced virtually no chance of losing their jobs in about half a dozen large agencies.

Even in an era of massive budget deficits, reorganizations last year resulted in only 385 federal employees losing their jobs. That’s one layoff for every 6,000 employees — something unheard of in private employment.

An employee at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, which has more than 10,000 employees, had a 99.85 percent chance of keeping his job last year.

All of which indicates a serious management problem.

Nobody believes that federal employees should be fired to meet some arbitrary goal. But research shows that 3 percent of private-sector employees are fired each year for poor performance compared to .55 percent in the federal government.

Management experts say that a rate of less than 1 percent shows that either managers are not setting goals and evaluating employees honestly, or civil service rules discourage managers from confronting problem employees.

Anyone who has worked in a large organization knows that hiring mistakes are made. Despite the best of intentions, some new employees are in over their heads or simply do not work out as expected.

Some employees refuse to develop new skills or adapt to new technology. Others may simply lose interest in their work and become less productive than they once were.

Allowing poor-performers to remain at their desks not only wastes tax dollars but it destroys morale. Eventually even good employees begin to see there is little or no penalty for poor performance.

Worse, dealing with such employees erodes the public’s faith in government workers and their competence.

The good news is that federal agencies probably have room to become more productive and do the same amount of work with fewer employees.

Unfortunately, it will have taken the specter of a fiscal calamity to force that upon them.

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The opinions expressed in this column reflect the views of the ownership and editorial board.